Customer Reviews

Authentic Thai Cuisine at 30,000 Feet

If you are enjoying your vacation in the Land of Smiles this year, there is no reason to wait until you touch down in the Kingdom before indulging in a delicious Thai feast.

Passengers who anticipated processed boxes of bland in-flight food on their flight from Bangkok to places like Phuket and Samui can think again, as a select handful of airlines have now launched delicious new in-flight menus.

Bangkok Airways is leading the culinary field and has joined forces with Chef McDang, one of Thailand’s most celebrated food connoisseurs, to create a brand new concept for their inflight menus.

The new selection, which launched in November 2014, is available on flights from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and Samui Airport.

‘Since Bangkok Airways positions itself as Asia's Boutique Airline, I wanted to capture its Thai and Asian essence and make it the conceptual heart of the new menus. We are also preparing to welcome our entry to AEC with these menu items,” said Chef Mc Dang.

Even a number of low-cost carriers (LCCs) are now seeking to tempt passengers’ palates with a menu of delicious Thai food. Thai Air Asia X for example (TAAX), which launched last June, is taking in-flight dining very seriously.

TAAX has introduced an extensive menu comprising 24 traditional Thai favourites and other classic dishes from around the world which are available to order online, pre-flight.

Some of the sumptuous dishes on offer include Thai hot basil chicken with omelette, Thai grilled chicken with sticky rice, Japanese chicken teriyaki with rise, Korean kimchi-fried rice, prawn pad Thai, as well as western favourites like spaghetti Bolognese and lasagne.

According to Sky Chefs (Thailand) who created the dishes, the striking flavours used in Thai food combat the slight loss of taste many passengers experience during their flight. The reduced pressure in the plane affects passengers’ taste bloods because the oxygen level has an effect on the sensitive senses of smell and taste.

‘We go for a full flavour, much in the way Thais eat their food, in our single-dish meals,’ said Nadda Buranasiri, chief executive of TAAX. “‘We review our sales volumes each quarter and may replace some slower-moving dishes with new ones we create,” he added.

Competitive pricing is another factor that will entice passengers to order from the new menu, with dishes priced from THB150 (US$4.60). TAAX’s sales of onboard meals, snacks and beverages contribute 15 percent to ancillary revenue, and with the new menu up and running, the airline intends to increase that figure 20 percent.